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Back in the day a 'hall' was actually a 'hall'. Rosalyn found this 'city hall' of modern times to be but a glorified office building. Truly the saddest thing in the world was that her time had passed, and that contemporary times failed to live up to those halcyon days.
Rosalyn, among other things, did not know the meaning of the phrase 'smart casual', and so strode into the City Hall in her usual ostentatious gothic attire. Her high heeled boots clicked on the floor and her upheld head was oblivious to the stares she received as she entered. Even odder than her own appearance was her association with a slightly older man. Noah was not quite old enough to look like her father, at best he could be an elder brother, yet it was clear to anyone that Rosalyn was the dominant one in this pairing.
A stray cat hissed at Rosalyn on the way in, and she hissed back, sending it scampering away somewhere. Rosalyn couldn't stand pet animals. Or most animals. Far better to have a human thrall who would obey you without question, rather than the unpredictability of animals. She gave Noah a sharp prod in the back with her nail and he jumped, leaving her content with their hierarchy.
"I suppose the point in this location is the town records." Rosalyn suggested to Noah. She was really talking to herself but it almost seemed like she was soliciting his opinion. "Births and deaths. Marriages. Something to give us a starting lead on this character we're to take out."
Naturally, as soon as they ventured further than the lobby, security obstructed Rosalyn and Noah from proceeding further. But that was no real obstacle. Rosalyn simply fluttered her eyelashes and gave the guard a hypnotic stare, and instructed him that they should be allowed to pass.
Once inside the records room, Rosalyn was soon aware of... strangeness. She felt almost drunk. Her mind wasn't in its normal state. Yet she knew no gaseous substance could affect her in her undeath. This was something more magical.
"We aren't the first to arrive, it seems. We shouldn't have waited until morning to set out, bah." Rosalyn grumbled. Abruptly she pushed Noah onto a chair in the corner of the room. "Stay here. Unless you want to die, of course. This could get messy."
Without further explanation, the little vampiress headed into the center of the room, eyeing the maze-like rows of filing cabinets fiercely. "Come out then. You won't get what you want from my mind while I'm still breathing. Or pretending to breathe, rather." Shadows seemed to gather around her almost imperceptibly, and it was clear she was preparing for sudden action.

Back in the day a 'hall' was actually a 'hall'. Rosalyn found this 'city hall' of modern times to be but a glorified office building. Truly the saddest thing in the world was that her time had passed, and that contemporary times failed to live up to those halcyon days.
Rosalyn, among other things, did not know the meaning of the phrase 'smart casual', and so strode into the City Hall in her usual ostentatious gothic attire. Her high heeled boots clicked on the floor and her upheld head was oblivious to the stares she received as she entered. Even odder than her own appearance was her association with a slightly older man. Noah was not quite old enough to look like her father, at best he could be an elder brother, yet it was clear to anyone that Rosalyn was the dominant one in this pairing.
A stray cat hissed at Rosalyn on the way in, and she hissed back, sending it scampering away somewhere. Rosalyn couldn't stand pet animals. Or most animals. Far better to have a human thrall who would obey you without question, rather than the unpredictability of animals. She gave Noah a sharp prod in the back with her nail and he jumped, leaving her content with their hierarchy.
"I suppose the point in this location is the town records." Rosalyn suggested to Noah. She was really talking to herself but it almost seemed like she was soliciting his opinion. "Births and deaths. Marriages. Something to give us a starting lead on this character we're to take out."
Naturally, as soon as they ventured further than the lobby, security obstructed Rosalyn and Noah from proceeding further. But that was no real obstacle. Rosalyn simply fluttered her eyelashes and gave the guard a hypnotic stare, and instructed him that they should be allowed to pass.
Once inside the records room, Rosalyn was soon aware of... strangeness. She felt almost drunk. Her mind wasn't in its normal state. Yet she knew no gaseous substance could affect her in her undeath. This was something more magical.
"We aren't the first to arrive, it seems. We shouldn't have waited until morning to set out, bah." Rosalyn grumbled. Abruptly she pushed Noah onto a chair in the corner of the room. "Stay here. Unless you want to die, of course. This could get messy."
Without further explanation, the little vampiress headed into the center of the room, eyeing the maze-like rows of filing cabinets fiercely. "Come out then. You won't get what you want from my mind while I'm still breathing. Or pretending to breathe, rather." Shadows seemed to gather around her almost imperceptibly, and it was clear she was preparing for sudden action.

World of Darkness Everyone has had the sense at least once in their lives that things are not right with the world, that not everything is as it seems. We sometimes feel that sinister truths hide behind a facade of normality, veiled partially by the rational, orderly â€œnatural lawsâ€ taught to us by science. We're told that medieval beliefs in monsters and magic were merely primitive superstitions. We're too wise for that sort of foolishness these days. Or so we assure ourselves. But at night, when the shadows grow long and the wind whistles through the trees, we shudder and remember older truths, the truths of our ancestors, who were right to fear the dark. We know deep down that the world is a far more terrifying place than we allow our rational minds to acknowledge. To accept this subconscious truth is to invite madness, to succumb to the raw chaos that lurks at the edges of our perception. Best to shut our eyes, pretend it's not there. If we don't see it, it might not see us. Pretending something is not there, however, does not make it go away. It only helps it to hide better â€“ and predators like to hide from their prey, lest it be scared away. A world where such predators truly existed is a conspiracy theorist's worst nightmare. In such a reality, unseen beings hatch incognito plots against us, pulling our strings like puppeteers looming above us, hidden in the darkness beyond the stage lights. Our only protection is our ignorance, the obliviousness that allows us to keep going day by day, building toward â€œsomething meaningfulâ€ - a career, a home, a family. Allegations about secret masters or creatures lurking in the night simply lack evidence. If these things are real, why don't we see them on the evening news? Even Internet sites dedicated to exposing unknown forces in our lives can't produce a single, verifiable picture. It's hard to believe in something we can't see. Maybe they want it that way. Welcome to the World of Darkness. Foreword The above was extracted from the core rulebook, I feel it is an excellent summary of what World of Darkness is all about; simply put it is of an urban fantasy/horror genre. As an RPG, WoD is more concerned with storytelling than gameplaying, and many aspects reflect that â€“ such as the fact you tend to be rewarded for playing your character well, regardless of whether your character actually is doing well in the story. There are even aspects of character creation where you can impair your own character and make gameplay harder for yourself. There is a lot of emphasis on creating great characters and stories rather than simply trying to win the game. D&D players will likely find the systems here quite similar in many ways, but rather different in others. There is likely to be a lot less combat, depending on the particular story, and more time spent roleplaying. Additionally, the notion of classes/races is replaced by the idea of different supernatural and human creatures. Currently, these include: vampires, werewolves, humans, mages, sin-eaters, prometheans, changelings, hunters (humans), and mummies. The core rulebook covers humans, and each other creature has its own rulebook dedicated to it. Games will usually focus on just one kind of creature, so everyone is on the same page and the GM can balance the game according to the available abilities. I've attempted here to summarise the core rulebook, however you will certainly need to peruse it for yourself for specifics, and you will certainly need the rulebooks for other supernatural creatures unless you're content playing a human. Here is the core WoD rulebook, for the purposes of following this guide. And here's a directory of the other rulebooks too. Key Concepts and Terms Summarised from the summary of key concepts and terms in the rulebook. This will help you follow some of the concepts involved in character creation. Dice: WoD uses only 10-sided dice. Various skills and effects will determine how many 10-sided dice you get to roll to determine various outcomes. Traits: Traits represent your character's capabilities, and come under two headings: Attributes: These are the facets of a character's general capabilities â€“ the equivalent of strength, intelligence, dexterity, etc in other RPGs. Skills: These cover various tasks and talents, and are used to show your character's capabilities in various fields. The contents of both fields are rated with dots (â—), ranging from 1 to 5. Whenever you perform an action requiring a dice roll, usually the amount of dice you roll is determined by adding your dots in the relevant attribute to your dots in the relevant skill. For example, to shoot a gun, you add your Dexterity (â—â—â—) attribute dots to your Firearms (â—â—) skill dots, resulting in a value of five dots (â—â—â—â—â—). So, you would roll five 10-sided dice â€“ 1 die per dot. Modifiers: These represent case-by-case variables for actions taken. Attempting to repair an item with quality tools may yield you a bonus modifier, while a thunderstorm may yield a negative modifier for any attempts at driving. Generally, you will get modifiers based on your equipment or tools, as well as any GM-imposed conditions. Dice Pool: So simply put, your pool of dice you roll is made up of: Attribute + Skill + equipment modifier +/- story/situational modifiers (if any) Rolling Dice: Rolling works a little differently in WoD than in other RPGs. Any result that is an 8, 9, or 10 is classified as a single success. Anything less is a failure. This is after adding your modifiers. To successfully perform an action, you will be given an amount of successes you need to achieve. There may be bonus effects for achieving extra successes, or detriments for failing particularly epically. Additionally, when you roll a 10, you may count that success then reroll that die â€“ essentially, each 10 you get gives you an extra dice roll in addition to counting as a success itself. You can keep rolling as many times as you get 10s. Exceptional Successes are awarded when you roll 5 or more Successes, and typically represents a result better than what you were aiming for. When your dice pool has been reduced to 0 or less, you get to roll a â€œchanceâ€ dice roll. In a chance dice roll, 10 is a Success and you get to re-roll. Any result from 9 to 2 is a Failure. Rolling a 1 is a Dramatic Failure and typically results in such negative consequences that it can only be regarded as bad luck. Example: You try to shoot a target. As the example above, you add your Dexterity (â—â—â—) to your Firearms (â—â—), as well as an extra bonus modifier for being quite close to the target (â—). Your resulting dice pool is thus 6 (â—â—â—â—â—â—). You roll six 10-sided dice. Your results are 4, 7, 1, 1, 8, 10. That's 2 successes, however, you get to roll the 10 again, and get another 8 â€“ leaving you with 3 successes instead. Action Types: There are three kinds of actions: Instant: Classified as anything that could take place within the span of 3 seconds, such as shooting at someone. These require only one roll of your dice pool to determine their outcome. Example: You try to shoot at someone. If you were to roll only a single success (8, 9, or 10), you would hit the target. If you rolled no successes, you would miss. If you happened to roll several excess successes, the shot may hit a vital spot and do extra damage. Extended: These lengthier tasks require multiple rolls of your dice pool to resolve. The time spent between each roll is determined by the GM â€“ it may be 30 minutes or a few hours. You will be required to achieve a certain number of successes within the multiple rolls in order to succeed. Depending on the nature of the task, you may be required to keep rolling until you get the number of successful rolls, and the amount of rolls you make will determine how long it took your character to complete the task. Example: You're trying to fix a car. It is determined you need to roll 10 successes to rebuild the transmission, and each roll will span 30 minutes. Even if your dice pool is only one, you could potentially achieve the successes within a single â€œrollâ€ by getting a 10 then rerolling it 10 times â€“ although that is absurdly unlikely. You may take 5 rolls to achieve 10 successes, resulting in it taking you 150 minutes of in-game time to complete. If you were trying to defuse a bomb and had to get 4 successes, with each roll taking up 1 minute, and 5 minutes left on the bomb timer, you would thus have to get all 4 successes within 5 rolls, or else you would fail and the bomb would explode. Contested: These are actions where two or more characters compete to accomplish a feat first or better than the others. They can be instant (eg arm wrestling) or extended (marathon race). In the case of instant tasks, whoever gets the most successes on their roll wins, and in the case of an extended task, whoever reaches the target amount of successes first (ie in the least amount of rolls) wins. Combat: Simple - Roll to attack. If you get at least one success, you hit. Then, each of your total successes is one point of damage done to the enemy. However, modifiers make things more complicated. You may start off with a dice pool of 6 (â—â—â—â—â—â—) based on your skills and equipment, but then the enemy statistics may deduct from your pool. Enemy Defense trait is deducted from your dice pool for instance, and if they are in cover or there are other adverse conditions, more dots may be deducted from your pool. Additionally, there are 3 types of damage: Bashing: Blunt weapon damage, such as fists or clubs. These wounds heal quickly. Lethal: Sharp weapon damage, such as knives or bullets. These wounds heal slowly. Aggravated: Caused by supernatural attacks. These wounds take a very long time to heal. Character Creation Now it's time to look at a blank character sheet: http://mrgone.rocksolidshells.com/pdf/NWOD/NWoD1-Page.pdf We're starting with a human sheet, because most of the human character sheet applies to all the other creatures â€“ for the supernatural creatures, you basically are adding their abilities onto your human character. At the bottom of the sheet in the small print is a list of notes and amounts of things you can choose. We'll cover that all in this guide, but if you're ever making a character and forget the numbers of things, that is a handy cheat sheet. Basic Details Name, Age, and Player are self-explanatory. Concept should be a two or three word summary of your character (â€œangry nerdâ€, â€œkung-fu grandmaâ€, â€œdutiful police offerâ€ etc). Chronicle is simply the title of the RP or story, and Group Name (if any) is just the name for the character's group of companions. Faction is the character's allegiance, however this is essentially left blank for most mortal characters â€“ it's more something for the supernatural characters. However, it may be relevant depending on the setting of the story (cops vs mafia etc). Virtues and Vices are straightforwardly the Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins respectively, however they have an additional purpose in WoD. Your character will be rewarded for taking actions which fit their Virtue and Vice, as doing so serves to reinforce their sense of self-identity. If a character's actions during a scene reflect their Vice, they will regain 1 point of their spent Willpower. If their actions during a chapter (usually a single gaming session; in an online format this will have to be specified â€“ generally one arc of the story) reflect their Virtue, they regain ALL spent Willpower points. Being virtuous is harder than giving in to vices, so the prior carries greater reward. These acts must be significant, and be of particular risk or cost to the character (you won't get reward for Gluttony every time you eat, but rather only when you indulge yourself so much that it will negatively impact you). Attributes Your character starts with 1 dot in every attribute, because every human has at least the most basic level of these attributes. They are grouped into 3 categories by column: Mental, Physical, and Social (self-explanatory). They are further grouped into 3 classes by row: Power, Finesse, Resistance (Power attributes are used to force yourself on the world. Finesse attributes are used to react and interact with the world evenly. Resistance attributes are used to resist outside forces). You get to assign 5 dots to one category (mental/physical/social), 4 to another, and 3 to the last. So for instance if you chose Mental category for your 3 dots, you could distribute those 3 as you like among the attributes of Intelligence, Wits, and Resolve. However, filling in the 5th dot in any attribute costs 2 dots instead of just 1. Generally, one dot in an attribute denotes ineptness, worse than the average person. Two would be average human level. Three would be the result of regular practice (us RPers could mostly consider ourselves at Three level in our craft). Four is the result of frequent practice or natural gifts (these would be those RPers who churn out amazing posts or write professionally). Five is prodigy level, the very peak of human ability. It is possible for supernatural effects to boost you above Five dots, and anything such would be indeed considered impossibly good ability. Attributes can be improved after character creation using EXP gained during play. Skills These are fairly self-explanatory as well. Again these are divided into the same 3 categories of Mental, Physical, and Social. Again, you are given points to divide up by category: this time 11 in one, 7 in another, and 4 in the last. Again, the 5th dot in any skill costs 2 points. Additionally, you also assign three Skill Specialities. You write these on the line next to the skill names. You can assign all three to a single skill, or one each to three skills, or two to one skill and one to another, however you like. You choose a speciality within the field of your chosen skill that your character will have particular talents in - there is no predetermined list of options, so you pretty much get to make this part up, within reason. For instance, for Academics, you may specialize in Ancient History, or any other academic subject. For Science, you may specialize in any of its fields, such as Chemistry. For Firearms you might specialize in certain weapon types, like pistols. For Subterfuge, you might specialize in con artistry etc. It's pretty common sense. Your specialities will give you bonus modifiers when the situation involves your particular speciality. For instance when running from danger, your Athletics skill would come into play, and you'd get a bonus if your Athletics skill specialized in sprinting. The amount of dots you put into skills have similar connotations as they did for attributes. 1 dot is a Novice, someone with only basic beginner's knowledge. 2 is a Practitioner, some with a working knowledge, but not necessarily enough to use it as a marketable skill. 3 is a Professional, the sort of thorough knowledge you'd need to work with the skill as an occupation. 4 is an Expert, this is the sort of skill that a person may have spent a lifetime building their expertise in. 5 is a Master, a foremost expert in the field. While some of these may suggest years of experience are necessary, if your character has a high amount of dots in a skill but is implausibly young to be so talented, you'd obviously have to chalk it up to sheer natural talent. Skills can be improved after character creation using EXP gained during play. Supernatural Stuff Everything before this point will be the same regardless of what supernatural creature you're playing, or if you're just playing a human. After this point, you will need to refer to the handbook of your chosen entity for details. This will largely be up to you, however if a story is conducted which requires specific supernatural entities, we will likely put up guides to filling out their details. For now, we're going to continue with how you'd create a human character. Advantages The nitty-gritty calculation stuff, where you'll work out various stats based on what you've chosen so far. Defense: This is equal to your Dexterity or Wits, whichever is lower. Size: 5 is the default value for an adult human, while a human child would be 3. Health: This is equal to your Stamina + Size. You fill in the circles up to this value, as your permanent health. The squares are used to record damage, since you will have to keep track of whether each point of damage is Bashing, Lethal, or Aggravated. Initiative: This is Dexterity + Composure Morality: Base starting value is 7. This equates to basic human decency and respect for the law. This value may decrease or increase based on your actions, and will be covered in more detail later. Speed: Strength + Dexterity + species factor (Human adults are 5, toddlers are 3. For reference, a turtle is 1 and a cheetah is 15). This value is amount of yards you can move in a turn. Willpower: Resolve + Composure. Willpower can be spent (like HP, when you use some, you mark the boxes â€“ the dots are permanent willpower max) to assist your rolls. They are regained as mentioned earlier, by fulfilling your Virtues and Vices. It can also, at GM discretion, be regained after a significant rest or monumental moment that would realistically give someone more will to carry on. Merits This is where characters become truly customized. Merits are additional boons to your character, covering a wide range of effects from boosting certain stats, to giving them modifiers in certain situations, to determining their knowledge about various things. Again these are divided into Mental, Physical, and Social, however there is no requirement as to how many (if any) you choose of each. You may spend 7 dots for your merits. Some merits have a fixed cost, while others have a range of costs that you can choose â€“ for those with a range, the 5th dot once again costs 2 dots. Merits can be improved or acquired after character creation using EXP gained during play. However, some merits are available only at character creation â€“ the sorts of things a person is born with and cannot just learn later in life. Flaws This is an entirely optional part of character creation, hailing back to what I said at the start about ways to deliberately hinder your own character. You can choose to give your character various mental, physical, or social flaws that will hinder them during play (the GM must consent to these, as you can't just give your character the One-Armed flaw when they actually have both arms still). Any time your character overcomes difficulty related to their flaw(s) during a chapter/session, you may gain an extra experience point at the end. For example, if your character's flaw is Crippled, they will be confined to a wheelchair and suffer penalties during movement actions. If you did a lot of moving during a chapter, you would likely gain the extra experience point. If you didn't have to move much and didn't suffer much particular difficulty from it, you would not gain that extra point. Flaws can be cured/overcome during the course of play â€“ specifically, if you do not play your character's flaw enough, the GM may declare it cured (if your Forgetful character seems to display excellent memory, for example). Additionally, flaws may be inflicted on players as events during the game warrant (this must be agreed upon by the player though), for instance a character becoming Lame after a particularly brutal fight. EXP At the end of a chapter, all players gain at least 1 EXP for participating. Fulfilling different conditions, such performing particularly heroic feats, or exhibiting excellent roleplaying of your character, may each award 1 more point. As a basic idea, you could expect most likely to gain 1-3 EXP at the end of a chapter on average. You can spend your EXP between chapters, on most of your stats. These are the costs: Attribute: each dot you wish to add costs 5 EXP. Skills: each dot you wish to add costs 3 EXP. Skill Speciality: each speciality you wish to acquire costs 3 EXP. Merit: each dot of a merit you wish to acquire costs 2 EXP. Morality: each level you wish to raise your morality costs 3 EXP. Characters may also be given some EXP to spend at character creation, depending on the level the game is intended for. End Result You should now (barring equipment, which will depend on the rules of the story) have something that looks like this: That's creating a character. The above sheet may look a bit different, notably the presence of apparent dropdown selection boxes, which is because I used an editable PDF file for that, which is from the same site as the blank character sheet from earlier: http://mrgone.rocksolidshells.com/ Anyway let's have a look at a few more mechanics related to the character sheet though, which will be important. How Damage Works When your character is hit by damage, you mark (from left to right) the boxes of their HP with a mark depending on the type of damage. Bashing = / Lethal = X Aggravated = * If you take damage more severe than any existing damage (say you've 1 point of Bashing damage and you take 1 point of Lethal Damage), the lesser wounds are shifted to the right. So while you add damage left to right, meaning Bashing then Lethal should look like (/, X), the more severe wound must be on the left, so it would instead look like (X, /). If your boxes are full of damage and you take more severe damage, your right-most injury will be pushed off the boxes entirely. Say your damage looks like (/, /, /, /, /, /). If you take a lethal damage hit next, it becomes (X, /, /, /, /, /). If your boxes are full and you take more of the same kind of damage (so in the previous example, you're full of Bashing damage and take more Bashing instead of Lethal), you start upgrading damage from left to right. Turn the left most / into an X. This is why the symbols are /, X, and * - so you can just draw extra lines to upgrade the damage symbol. When all your HP boxes are full of damage, and the right-most damage is marked with a /, you must make a roll of your Stamina each turn to remain conscious. Once your HP boxes are full of Lethal damage, your character becomes comatose and is considered to be Dying - each minute that passes without medical attention will upgrade a point of Lethal damage to Aggravated damage. If your boxes are full of Aggravated damage, then you are dead. If any of your last three (right-most) HP boxes have any sort of damage in them, you will suffer penalties to any rolls you make, incrementally as they fill up. So having only 2 HP boxes empty still would incur a -1 penalty, having only 1 HP boxes empty incurs a -2 penalty, and once all your HP boxes are full, you incur a -3 penalty. How Healing Works You cannot heal damage if you are Dying, until you receive medical attention. Barring that, wounds recover in order of right to left (that is, least severe to most severe â€“ just think of it as healing is applied in the reverse order to damage), at the following rates: Bashing = one point per 15 minutes. Lethal = one point per two days. Aggravated = one point per week. Supernatural beings may recover faster. There are many other ways to sustain damage based on circumstances, which are described in detail in the rulebook. For instance, you take Bashing damage over time if you are deprived of food or water. What is Morality? This, as a concept, should be self-evident. Characters start with a base Morality of 7, which is basic human decency. Morality can be increased by performing selfless acts (at the end of the chapter the GM may award a morality point if you have done such enough), or lost by performing sinful acts (you will have to roll dice matching the sin performed â€“ less for more deplorable acts â€“ in order to avoid losing morality). At a morality of 10, mere selfish thoughts can trigger a potential loss of morality â€“ a score of 10 is a truly selfless human being. At the base value of 7, your character must obey the law to avoid falling lower. If your morality ever falls to 0, your character becomes a being of mindless pure evil, and control of the character passes to the storyteller (to go below 1 you have to commit something on the scale of mass murder, so this should really not be something to worry about happening). The main consequence of losing morality points is the chance of developing Derangements. These work a bit like Flaws, and in fact you can choose to start off with a Derangement as a Flaw. When you lose a point of morality, you must roll your new morality dice pool to see if your character can cope with themselves. If the roll fails, the character develops a derangement at the GM's discretion (with consultation with the player), usually related to their circumstances. For instance, someone forced to harm a child may develop an Avoidance derangement that causes them to be forced to get away if ever they're around children in future. If you develop further derangements, they can be either new ones or evolutions of the old ones, as circumstances dictate. Additionally, if you lose a point and suffer a derangement, then later regain a point, your character is considered to have overcome that derangement. You can either erase it from the character sheet, or leave it there in a dormant state. Then, if you ever lose another point and develop a derangement again, you could either develop an entirely new derangement, or pick up your old one again â€“ this is purely a matter of roleplaying preference, you may wish your character to struggle with the Depression derangement, constantly falling into it again after brief periods of putting it behind them. Any Questions? Just post or PM and I'll try to answer them.

The lights suddenly went out and the room became cold. Beyond the particular darkness that comes as one's eyes adjust after previously having being in the light, there was a more heavy darkness about the room. It was almost suffocating, almost a tangible presence against one's skin. "That letter is not for you, mortal." Rosalyn whispered from right behind Noah suddenly. The young man found himself unable to move at all now, held by some unseen force. "And now you have to pay for your curiosity I'm afraid." Rosalyn's fangs extended and touched to Noah's neck, but paused, and then lifted again without biting. The darkness, too, lifted, and the lights returned, though Noah was still unable to move. Rosalyn strolled around in front of Noah, wearing a peaceful and welcoming expression on her face again now. "Now that you know about this letter, I should end your life. But, I'm feeling merciful tonight. Instead, you'll accompany me now until the conclusion of the game. That is the condition on which I let you live." she approached Noah closely, reaching up and touching a sharp fingernail to his cheek, "Don't even try to dishonour those terms either." she added, before scratching his cheek with her nail once, drawing a small amount of blood. "You can see how easily I can kill you if you force me to." Abruptly whatever force holding Noah in place relented, and he was freed again. Rosalyn walked to the door to leave, but turned back once more. "Get some rest then, we set out tomorrow~!" she said cheerily, licking some blood off of the nail she had clawed him with, before disappearing from the room.

"The Master?" Rosalyn repeated, a glare flickering in her eyes for the briefest moment, before her hospitable facade recovered. "This mansion has known no Master for a long time, I am the Mistress and sole proprietor. And so you have my permission. I did not invite you in simply to eject you again immediately, of course you shall stay until morning." Rosalyn strolled up behind her guest as he knelt by the fireplace, placing her hand on his shoulder. "You simply must get out of these wet clothes before you catch your death. We have plenty of spare linens." her hand gently moved up to his neck, and her other hand was placed on the other side of his neck, her fingernails tickling his skin. "We have many bedrooms for you to choose from, as well. You may pick any to sleep in for the night." Whatever Rosalyn was getting at was interrupted, as suddenly thudding footsteps came bounding into the room. An overweight, sweaty, bespectacled hunchback entered, he too wet with the rain. "Mistress, special mail delivery! It's-" "Very well, Rogi." Rosalyn interrupted sharply, quite clearly hinting him to speak no further in the presence of this guest. She took the letter, which was a most unusual piece of mail. A black envelope with fine, almost invisible patterns on the paper, stamped and sealed with red wax bearing a strange symbol. Rosalyn expertly cut open the end of the envelope with her nail, removing any doubt as to how sharp her nails really were, and retrieved the letter from within. The paper of the letter, too, was textured most ornately. As she read the contents, her eyes widened, and for a moment her elegant composure faltered and her face was that of a child of the age she seemed to be. Then she looked to her guest, composed herself again, and folded up the letter. "Rogi, please fetch some fresh clothes then take our guest to change, and see to it he's provided a room in the main wing, and anything else he should desire. Then come find me, we have preparations to discuss." she said, all business now. Rosalyn headed to her study, where she reread the letter again and again. It was clearly of great interest to her. Eventually, however, she tossed the letter onto her desk and left the room. As Rogi carried out his instructions, he was hasty and very short with any questions from his charge. He perceived his Mistress was agitated by something, and was most eager to get rid of this drifter and tend to that problem. So eager he was that once he provided Noah with fresh clothes, he simply described where the bedrooms where to be found, and ushered Noah into the nearest secluded room - the study - for him to get changed in. Then he immediately scampered off to see what news there was from his Mistress, leaving Noah rather to his own devices.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. "The hour grows late." a young female voice muttered. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. Long, sharp, crimson fingernails tapped against the mahogany arm of an antique armchair. Bored, yet malicious. Outside rain beat down, battering the hallowed mansion, interrupted only by the occasional howl of wind. Inside the mansion should have been a cosy atmosphere, shelter from the rain. But the truth was it was even colder inside than out. The dainty yet threatening hand raised a wine glass to red lips, in vain, as the glass was empty. A tongue slipped out and licked the lips, thirsty, parched. But not for wine. Rosalyn Mallory's eyes were closed, her thick dark lashes contrasting against her deathly pale and yet youthful skin. Her equally dark hair was tied in twintails with elaborate bows, and her fringe hung down just above her eyeline. She wore a short yet elegant black and red dress, her arms bare but for some matching frilly cuffs at her wrists, and a ring with an immaculate ruby adorning it. Her legs were covered by black stockings with a spider web design, ending just above her knees, with garter straps reaching up the rest of the way. On her feet she wore high-heeled boots, an ornate design that managed to suit the rest of her ensemble. Around her neck was a black collar and from it dangled a pendant with another stunning ruby jewel. Yet for all the effort evident in her appearance, she had no guest. The mansion was empty save for herself, and a servant toiling elsewhere, unseen. However, that was evidently about to change, Rosalyn's blood red eyes opening as her sensitive hearing detected an anomalous noise from outside. A voice. The voice of a young man. Rosalyn licked her lips once again, sat down her wine glass, and stood up. -- Outside, the gate swung open as if by itself, but surely just blown by the strong winds. And as the poor man outside drew closer, the main doors of the mansion would also creak open, as if by themselves, for there was nobody visible inside. As the traveler cautiously entered though, escaping the rain, the doors slammed shut again behind him. Inside now was warmer than it was a moment ago, candles now lit and the fireplace in the living room adjacent to the entry hall roaring with life. "You must be tired, and soaked. Do come to the living room and dry off, Mr Pratt." Rosalyn said, stepping forth from the shadows with a smile on her face, gesturing toward the living room.

Added most people since I actually used my PS4 for the first time in ages. Realized now I missed Kyo. And yeah, also couldn't find DG. And are the IDs case sensitive? Cos I could only find AckyTacky and their language was listed as Dutch so I am unsure if that is ack. ._. Anyway the occasion for using PS4 was Bloodborne, anyone else playing it? Or going to play it since I think it's not out yet in Europe perhaps?

HH, Eth, and Octy remain to pick their Encounter option. Anyway no rush. The netbook I'm bringing to Singapore can't handle any games, so I'll be unable to access Tabletop Sim on Steam to continue the game. Thus there'll be no update from me until about this time next week, when I get back home.

ELDRITCH HORROR Eldritch Horror is a cooperative game of investigation and horror inspired by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. In each game, one of the Ancient Ones, a being of unimaginable power that predates time itself, is awakening. Players take on the roles of investigators who are attempting to solve mysteries, defend humanity from unimaginable horrors, and ultimately banish the Ancient One from this world. If investigators fail at their task, the Ancient One awakens, and mankind is doomed. So there's this board game by this name and it seemed like it would work well in a forum setting, particularly because there's room for light RPing. The above description is from the rulebook and describes the game adequately. But to try to elaborate a bit more on what the gameplay is like: On a person's turn there'll be a number of actions they can choose from to do, from fighting monsters (dice rolling and stat comparison) to exploring cities (drawing cards with potentially good or bad effects, or requiring dice rolling and stat tests) to interacting with other players (trading items or assisting them with rolls to accomplish tasks or remove conditions). Player characters have several stats, can acquire items (as well as curses or debilitating effects), and must preserve their HP and Sanity or perish (a defeated player can be looted - depending on the specific character it may be easier or harder to collect their things. Additionally when a player is defeated they can rejoin the game as a new character, if there are any remaining). The cards and such have a lot of flavour text for the sake of immersion, so I'll be embellishing that further and delivering info as such. Likewise, players could write a paragraph describing their actions IC and just bolding the technical, relevant info, if they like. The characters in the game normally have set portraits and personality and such, but to the aforementioned end I'll merely list the occupation and stats of a character and players can give it a personality of their own choosing. I'm not sure of the exact period the game is set in, but I'm guessing the 1920s or 1930s from the looks of the portraits and items (and the fact the picture for Sydney shows an incomplete harbor bridge so that pins the date in that range). There's not too much to learn to be able to play, and as this is a cooperative game people can always help each other out. This needs a minimum of 2 players, up to a maximum of 8. So, say so here if you're interested! I'll provide more information about mechanics later, but for now here's the titles of the available character options, the board, and the particular Ancient One this game will star (there are 4 total that each play differently, so if this goes well then future games could become sequels against different ancient ones): The Shaman, The Politician, The Redeemed Cultist, The Psychic, The Musician, The Expedition Leader, The Martial Artist, The Actress, The Soldier, The Astronomer, The Sailor, The Spy

Well since it seems to be decided, for the record my own ability was to protect someone from any abilities. I'd be told what the ability is first and could choose to negate it. That's what I meant by something more useful Eth. You may have been immune to conversion so hoped they'd waste time using it on you instead of the real detective role, but you wouldn't be informed even if that happened and would learn nothing. I could negate the ability and learn who was targeted, allowing us to both identify an innocent and gain some insight. I protected myself the first day then HH every other day after she got into the council, hoping someone would target her and thus reveal her allegiance. But I got no word of any of these things people targeted at her, presumably because I didn't activate it soon enough each day (I learned later that it was time sensitive) so everything slipped by. (not so much more useful after all xD)

Mr Astronomer loses 2 Health and 1 Sanity in his battle with the hound, but deals it 1 damage. (edit: I realize you only took a move action, but after you move you can then Rest since you've escaped the monster for now. So I'll assume you Rest as well, recovering 1 Health and Sanity that you lost. So you only lose 1 Health total). Master spy gets his train ticket. Max gets an item or trinket asset from the reserve. Only these two apply so either: Asset: Bandages (Item)(1) You may discard this card to prevent an Investigator on your space from losing up to 2 Health.Asset: Pocketwatch (Trinket)(1) You cannot become Delayed unless you choose to. Zhuge loses 1 Sanity and gets Hallucinations: Condition: Hallucinations (Madness) When you perform a Rest action, roll a single die. On a success, discard this card.RECKONING: Test Will. If you fail, flip this card. As far as divining the gates, the next two gates to appear are: Buenos Aires (Blue) Shanghai (Red) (Omen is currently on Red and moves to Blue next) ENCOUNTER PHASE Choose 1 encounter. If a monster occupies your space you HAVE to fight it. IF it dies then you may do one of the other encounters as well. Fight a monsterDraw either a General card or a location card matching the area you are inResolve a token on your current space And of course in addition to this, Max needs to choose his item and Zhuge needs to choose which gate goes on top. PLAYERS (In order of turn. Player with stars is the current Lead Investigator, turn order starts from them onward). Noia, The Astronomer TriOctium, The Redeemed Cultist HH, The Actress Sean, The Spy ***Eth, The Shaman*** ANCIENT ONE BOARD ACTIVE MYSTERY

So I stumbled upon this site that has a program that will analyze a block of text and assess various aspects of its readability. You then get a Grade Level score that indicates the lowest education level needed to understand your writing. It'll also highlight different things and suggest how you can improve the readability. So go ahead and copy/paste some of your RP posts or such into it and see what sort of reading level your writing is at. Lower is better. http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ Here's what it has to say about itself, in the desktop version Help file: I already checked out a few other people's posts and ya'll are pretty good. I checked into this cos I suspected my own are needlessly tedious and indeed my average result is too high. Highest I've seen so far was my introduction post to the Eldritch Horror game which hit Grade 21. Lowest I've seen so far was one of HH's RP posts that hit Grade 6.

Basically the lower it is the easier it is to read, according to the algorithm at least. The example "hard to read" sentence has an unnecessary semi-colon, so what would be two simple sentences becomes a single complex one. The "very hard to read" example has two commas and a dash, extending the sentence even further, and twice uses two different descriptive terms for the same thing. <- That last sentence of mine comes up as "hard to read", but if I split it into two sentences its fine then. That's why there's so much variation, it'll depend a lot on the nature of the text - a dialogue-heavy post will likely turn out differently than a more descriptive one or such. The main way to end up with higher scores seems to be just being more wordy or meandering. It's debatable how useful this is for creative writing. The main point is lower score means your communication is more clear and effective. Doesn't say anything about content or creativity, it's solely an indication of how your info/ideas are being conveyed.

The thing is if an evil knight were to choose to claim to have the ability that you claimed to, there is no way to disprove it, and if believed it means the person is not a suspect. So you're still potentially an evil knight who lied and it'd be foolish to ignore that possibility. But even if you're good, there are more useful things to be done than what you were trying to do.

You're not able to prepare for travel, as the Himalayas are not a city. They also have no rail connection. The monster token may be covering it a bit but they are directly connected to Shanghai by an uncharted path. Which means you can just move there normally this turn anyway.

Well the cat says it knows Vey Lance is a bad guy but the cat also sent me a message in the last phase asking me to vote for it, and listing its abilities. They did not include anything that could detect allegiance. So the cat either lied to me or is lying to us all now.

Also I noticed now I spelt San Francisco wrong every single time in the above post but I can't be bothered to fix them all so it is now canon that the strange happenings have changed the spelling in all records to make me correct.

Zhuge Liangfeng closes his gate and moves to the Himilayas. Max Jaegerbomber gains 2 Clues. Sir Bearington loses 2 Sanity. Mr Astronomer gains a clue and discards the Eldritch token from the Omen track (this means less Doom advancement). HH added her clues to the Mystery. Yevgeny spent a clue and got an artifact: Artifact: Ruby of R'lyeh (Item - Magical)Once per round, during the Action Phase, you may spend 1 Sanity to perform 1 additional action MYTHOS PHASE All the monsters and magic and strange happenings the investigators experience is starting to alienate the normal world from them. You look around at regular people going about their mundane lives, and wonder how you can even consider yourself truly human anymore, existing in such a different way to them. Omen advances by 1! (Lands on red, advancing Doom by 1 for the Rome gate)RECKONING happens!2 Gates spawn! (Istanbul(green) and San Fransisco(green))Additional Effect: Each investigator can discard any number of Spells they possess. Then, all investigators lose 1 Sanity for each spell they still possess, and gain a Madness condition (all 3 different possible madness conditions have no initial effect, can be cured by taking a Rest action and rolling a success with 1 die, but will trigger unknown effects when Reckoning happens next). RECKONING Triggers: Tokyo's Shoggoth regenerates to full Health (not that it was hurt)Rome's Hound of Tindalos moves to the Pyramids and attacks Mr Astronomer! Monsters Spawned from new Gates: (Istanbul) Colour of Outer Space = Horror 2, Damage 0, Health 2. Effect: Immediately move this monster to Tunguska when it spawns. After resolving the Will test, roll 1 die. On a success, this monster is destroyed instantly. (San Fransisco) Gnoph-Keh = Horror 1, Damage 2, Health 3. Tests: Strength test gets -2 Effect: Immediately move this monster to Himilayas when it spawns. Reckoning Effect: Each investigator on this space loses 1 Health. Doom sits at 11! So we have some things to address before the next phase. Eth and Octy must either discard their spell or lose 1 Sanity and gain a madness condition (Hallucinations, Paranoia, or Amnesia. You can choose which condition - Paranoia will tend to cause you to harm your allies if they're nearby, Hallucinations will tend to damage your Sanity, and Amnesia will tend to give you another negative condition to replace it. Noia is forced to fight the Hound immediately. So refer to the combat section of the Encounter phase for that. So you three must resolve those things first, and then you can proceed with your turn. The other players can just proceed with their turns immediately. ACTION PHASE Choose 2 Actions. Actions you can perform anytime are in green. Actions you can only perform in cities are in orange. And actions you cannot perform if monsters are present are in red. TravelTradeComponent ActionsPrepare for TravelAcquire AssetsRest PLAYERS (In order of turn. Player with stars is the current Lead Investigator, turn order starts from them onward). Noia, The Astronomer TriOctium, The Redeemed Cultist HH, The Actress Sean, The Spy ***Eth, The Shaman*** ANCIENT ONE BOARD ACTIVE MYSTERY